The Epidemic of Loneliness in America — And Why It’s Not Too Late

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If you ever get the feeling that you’re not hanging out with your friends or socializing as much as you used to, you’re not alone. Well, I mean, you are alone, but, increasingly, so is everyone else.

That’s Robert Putnam’s thesis in Bowling Alone, a massively influential book detailing the fall of civic engagement, social bonding, and basically just friendship and civility in general, in America since the end of World War II.

Putnam’s been described as “an Old Testament prophet with charts,” and you might be surprised at quite a bit of what he’s found about why we’re not connecting nearly as much as we used to. He’s no pessimist, though, so he’s also come through with possible solutions. I shrink from pessimism in general as indicating a simple lack of imagination or insight, and Robert Putnam does not skimp on the insight.

Here today I’m going to be running through some of the best notes that I’ve taken from his book — the rest can be found on my Patreon, along with notes and summaries from over 900 other books.

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